Can the Mule deer take it?

[Wild Bill Bucks]

Someone with really deep pockets bought the old Valley Timbers Ranch over by McGee Creek, and put up a high fence around the whole thing this year. I'm not sure how much land is there since it has always been a private ranch and I have never been on it, but I am led to believe that it is several thousand acres.

Several of us could probably re-tire on what the fence cost to put up.

They have stocked the ranch with lots of Mule deer, and from what I have been told, it will cost $5000.00 to shoot one.

My question is, since the summer months here in southeastern Oklahoma tend to be around 100 degrees for weeks on end in the summer time, and the ticks and mosquitos are plentiful around the lake, which borders one side of the ranch. Will these animals stand a chance at survival, or will they slowly die off due to the weather and environment problems?

[jimbob86]

Will these animals stand a chance at survival, or will they slowly die off due to the weather and environment problems?

Dunno, but I'll bet dollars to dougnuts that if they do, these "highly" ethical folks will truck in more animals to shoot at 5 Grand a pop .......

Unnaturally concentrating game animals and shipping them around the country as needed like livestock is bad ju-ju.

These practices brought CWD to Nebraska from Wisconsin.

[Doyle]

Mule deer can take high temps. AZ and NM are full of them.

[Kreyzhorse]

I would think those mule deer won't have a problem dealing with those temps in Oklahoma.

[Paul B.]

Several thousand acres ain't a hell of a lot of land and if you put too many deer on it, they're gonna starve. If there are does in the mix there's gonna be fawns and more deer.
Now the outfitter I hunt with charges about $5,000 for a guided hunt but that much money for a high fence hunt? I could probably take a very nice rophy deer on my own here in AZ. Problen is drawing a tag. Maybe they'll be feeding them and having them come in to a dinner bell so daddy big bucks call lie about how difficult his deer hunt was, just because he got a splinter in his finger while lining up on his deer at the bench rest. Maybe the lader to the stand was steeper that he's used to.
Paul B.

[big al hunter]

As long as there is water they can take the heat. As stated above they will likely be feeding them. I would be curious as to how they will keep the deer from swimming out of the property, across the lake.

[Art Eatman]

A fair number of mule deer in the SW Texas desert. They survive summer high temps of 110 to the occasional 120.

A fair number of mulies in the Texas Panhandle, also--which would have similar temperatures with SE Oklahoma.

[TXAZ]

I hiked central AZ for years on a weekly basis and note there are lots of mule deer in the desert that averages 95-100 on cool summer days and 115-122 on really hot ones. I'd say they didn't seem to care.

[foxytwo]

That will have to be a real high fence because the mule deer can jump very high fences.

[Wild Bill Bucks]

foxytwo has me figured out. I was thinking that if they swim across the McGee Creek arm of the lake, they will be on public hunting area, and I would think they would be legal during deer season to be taken. That arm of the lake is only about 100 yards wide, and I'm having visions of a Mullie for WBB.

I can't find out much about the legality issues other than word of mouth. Someone told me that they are legal to take during Whitetail season, but it was Buck only, and you are not allowed to shoot a doe. I'll have to find out for sure, because word of mouth will get you locked up.

[viciouskitty]

The mule deer should take the heat just fine. In regards to high fenced in areas if managed properly they will survive. South Texas is littered with high fence ranches with canned hunts where a buck costs 10 grand. You can pick the one you want by thumbing thru a book full of pictures. They are fed year round and guides know which buck likes to go where. Its a pretty sad way to hunt, but rich people from all over come to hunt deer like that. In Texas they even artificially inseminate and try to breed certain deer together for preferable traits. Maybe all of those things are coming to Oklahoma now.

[buck460XVR]

I bettin' those folks with deep pockets puttin' up the fence have already done the research on the survivability of Mule deer in Oklahoma. As for shooting them if they escape, if they are native to the state(any part of it) and not protected in the area around the high fence ranch, I'd assume they'd be legal during the regular season. Odds are tho, those same deep pockets have figured out a way to keep those $5000 bucks from swimming away.

The ethics of hunting high fence ranches is a heated subject and where legal comes down to one's own standards. While it's not for me, if it's legal and the owners use reasonable care and humanely raise and hunt the animals, who am I to deny them a opportunity to make a profit or someone else to pay them to shoot a deer?

[Art Eatman]

The "heat" generally comes from folks who somehow can't envision several thousand acres inside that boundary fence. I've spent most of a day just working sneaky-snake in maybe a hundred acres. "Fair chase" is controlled by vegetation and terrain. You get on the highway north out of Roswell, New Mexico, and a fair-chase high-fence pasture oughta be 20,000 acres or more.

But an Okie mule deer deal ought to work okay.

[Deja vu]

they are pretty tough I dont think heat bothers them.

[tahunua001]

they probably would be as healthy as they would without the fence. deer don't travel too far from water unless their food supply is gone. the deer would probably live around the lake anyway.

I've shot a number of perfectly healthy deer that have been swarmed with ticks, fleas, and other parasites. unless they ship them in from out of state they should probably be able to handle anything those bugs carry. besides, I have yet to see a fence that keep a deer contained. if they can't jump over it(at least 8 feet tall) then they'll go under it. unless that fence has a concrete base all the way around they'll come and go as they please. all that fence will do is keep the poor hunters out and the rich "hunters" in.